1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector, and more particularly to the type of connector comprising a housing of insulating material and a number of right-angled contact elements arranged in rows and columns.
2. Description of Prior Developments
EP-A-0 649 195 discloses a connector of the above type, wherein the second housing section comprises lateral walls having a thickness corresponding to half of the pitch between adjacent contact elements in row direction to allow stackability of the connectors. With decreasing pitch between adjacent contact elements, the thin lateral walls can be deformed easily during mounting of the connector on a printed circuit board, in particular in case of contact element terminations of the press-fit type. Moreover, moulding thin walls presents a difficulty during manufacturing.
A connector according to the invention comprises a housing of insulating material and a number of right-angled contact elements arranged in rows and columns, the contact elements having a contact end, an intermediate elbow part and a termination for connection to a printed circuit board, the housing having a first housing section accommodating the contact ends of the contact elements, and a second housing section accommodating the elbow parts, wherein the second housing section comprises upper and lower walls, and support walls extending mainly parallel to the upper and lower walls between adjacent rows of contact elements for supporting the intermediate elbow parts of the rows of contact elements. The invention described herein aims to provide an improved connector of the type described herein. To this end the connector according to the invention is characterized in that the second housing section is provided with at least one intermediate wall extending transverse to the support walls between the elbow parts of two adjacent columns of contact elements.
In this manner a connector is obtained, wherein the intermediate wall can have a thickness corresponding to the free space between two adjacent columns of contact elements, i.e. twice the thickness of the lateral walls of the prior art connector. This results in an improvement of the moulding process of the second housing section. Furthermore, the strength of the intermediate wall is much higher so that relatively high forces exerted during mounting the connector on a printed circuit board can be taken without any deformation of the intermediate wall.
According to the invention, the second housing section is provided with lateral walls parallel to the at least one intermediate wall and having half the thickness of the at least one intermediate wall, said lateral walls extending substantially only along the support walls. In this manner the second housing section is provided with lateral wall parts only covering the elbow part sections aligned with the contact ends of the contact elements so that the elbow part sections aligned with the terminations are clearly visible for the operator of the manufacturing process. In this manner the positioning of the connector on a printed circuit board can be visually inspected in an easy manner.
Preferably the at least one intermediate wall comprises a rear support at its lower end opposite of the first housing section, wherein the rear support is provided with a support face preferably located in one plane with the lower surface of the lower wall of the second housing section. In this manner the intermediate wall together with the lower wall provides a strong support for positioning the connector horizontally with respect to the printed circuit board. Any lift or rotation of the housing of the connector with respect to the printed circuit board is effectively prevented.